Jewish community of
Greater Waterville.

This section of the Documenting Maine Jewry project has information on the communities of
Fairfield, Oakland, Waterville.

The coordinators of this site are Peter and Joan
Beckerman of Waterville and David Friedenreich
at Colby College. They
would welcome additional photographs, documents and oral histories sent to them at dmj @ mindspring.com

Brief History of Waterville Jewry

Shortly after the turn of the century, in the days of the horse and wagon and the itinerant peddler, seven men of the Jewish faith settled in Waterville. These men, who earned their livelihood by peddling various wares, soon were faced with the need to band together in an effort to foster Judaism for themselves and their families. The Beth Israel Congregation was chartered June 16, 1902. The seven founding fathers included Julius Levine, William Levine, Louis Wolman, John Paikowsky, Phillip Levine, Moses Silver and John Williams. Their ultimate goal was to build a House of Worship for the Jewish residents of Waterville.

Before this dream could become reality, however, they found it necessary to conduct religious services at various private homes in the community. High Holy Day Services were conducted at Hose No. 4 Fire Station on Ticonic Street. On August 21, 1903, a barn, situated on the corner of Kelsey and Ticonic Streets, was purchased by the Congregation. This barn was dismantled, and by securing additional new lumber, work was begun on the new building. The project was accomplished under the direction and guidance of Mr. Charles Fitzgerald of Winslow.

In 1905, the Beth Israel Synagogue on Kelsey Street was completed. This was unique in that it was wholly supported from dues of members, which at that time, were ten cents a week, or $5.00 per year. There was a substantial mortgage however, and 20 years later, in 1925, the balance of the mortgage was paid by William Levine, in memory of his son, Theodore N. Levine.

Mr. Moses Silver, who emigrated to Waterville in 1900, became the first "Shochet" or ritual leader, even before the completion of the Synagogue. Mr. Hyman L. Shenson became the spiritual leader in the years that followed until about 1914,
at which time there was a succession of different rabbis

DATABASE RESOURCES : Information is available today on

1,033 individual Jews with strong ties to Greater Waterville of which 66 record the Old Country origin of first generation immigrants

172 records of burial in Jewish cemeteries for which there are 137 headstone images

80 organizations important to the Greater Waterville Jewish community of which
23 are Jewish community institutions and 29 are businesses important to the Greater Waterville Jewish community

402 bibliographic citations and sources pertaining to Greater Waterville of which
160 are photographs and 30 are oral histories

Recent additions to the Documenting Greater Waterville Jewry database include

The Documenting Waterville Jewry (DWJ) site is a part of the state-wide Documenting Maine Jewry (DMJ) project.
Honoring the Jewish tradition of remembrance, the Documenting Maine Jewry project seeks to tell the story,
not just of those individuals, but of the communities they shaped. DMJ's goal is to collect short histories
of the many people and organizations that have contributed, over time, to the lives of Maine Jews.
Currently the state-wide index has records on over 25,000 Jewish Mainers and 200 Maine Jewish organizations.

People The questions unavoidably arise: Who is a Jew?
And who is a Mainer? On the former, the project takes no position. On the latter, we have used a broad definition
including not only those who were born, grew up, or lived here, but also those who are buried here.

Organizations
DWJ is also building a community-based history around the 20 religious and secular
institutions that were or are the lifeblood of the Waterville Jewish community ï¿½ as well as the source of quite regular souris (headaches). The project is creating 'family trees' of those often-interconnected local institutions: some 180 Jewish service organizations, 94 Jewish religious bodies, 18 Chevra Kaddisha and cemeteries, 15 Jewish camps, and 240 businesses crucial to the economic survival of Maine Jews.

Places
The state-wide database has information on Maine Jews from over 90 cities and towns .
Users can seek information in a particular town or city or
can select a wider area to search
on the state map index .
Each option allows users to find organizations and people either in these key cities/towns or by county.

Oral Histories
The DWJ project is also collecting oral histories. Currently there are X oral histories by Waterville-connected Jews.

Sources
The Documenting Maine Jewry methodology is basically a jigsaw approach. We take whatever community, municipal,
and cemetery records we have and merge them into a common database. As a result,
we face problems of duplication and incompleteness. To minimize those problems, we try to name-match only
when we have at least two factual sources for a given name. Ultimately, we feel it is better to have duplicate
records than inaccurate information linking two unrelated people with the same names; Jews do love to repeat
certain family names. In the name of historic accuracy, we ask families to supplement/correct their information
using the on-line edit function on their page, or by emailing correct information to dmj@mindspring.com.

Volunteers
The Waterville Documenting Maine Jewry effort is largely a volunteer effort; we always welcome more help. Volunteers interested in photographing older Jewish headstones, collecting information on a particular town or organization, transferring data from print to electronic records, or upgrading software should email to dmj@mindspring.com.

Finances
Financial contributions supplement the volunteer effort by supporting data collection and outreach.
DMJ is under the financial supervision of Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine(JCA),
a 501(c)3 organization. Donations are welcome using the Tzedakah box below or by sending a gift (marked DOMJ)
to the JCA, 57 Ashmont St., Portland, Maine 04103. Major donors can select a range of contributions to honor their own Maine immigrant family or to inspire and inform the next generation of Maine Jews.

Heart and Soul
The core of the project is the addition of new information by Maine Jews,
whether online through the website, by email, or by old-fashioned mail.
We encourage all registered users to supplement or correct existing information on individuals using
the edit function on each person's page. Historical documents, oral accounts, photographs of community activities,
and print articles can be emailed to David at Colby College. To get a mailing address,
please email describing the materials you would like to share.

Recent additions to the Documenting Waterville Jewry database include

Journey of William and Sarah Levine, from Vilna,
Lithuania to Waterville, Maine, by Eric Bloom for the Levine Family Reunion, July 2009 (Waterville)

Last Updated : 17 January 2010

Page Displayed :
/ Friday December 09, 2016

Help Support DMJ

Financial contributions can be made to honor a member of your Maine immigrant family or to inspire the next generation of Maine Jews.

Current DMJ Projects :

Congregational and Organizational Bulletins and Newsletters

DMJ is making an extra effort to collect bulletins, newsletters, e-bulletins, journals or
whatever they are called in your community to add to our database.
If your synagogue or community organization has a collection of old bulletins, we can set up an easy process to receive any scanned or digital versions.

Current Info in the Pipeline :

DMJ has a six month back log of new photographs, newsletters, headstone images, newspaper articles, and biographies that we have not yet
been able to make appropriate bibliographic entries and indicies of proper names. You can see what
should be available sometime in the near future.